My Turn: Chilling moment in history

The report was not about a current event, but a moment in history, an event that occurred 150 years ago. It still spooked me nonetheless.

Why? The story was about the Civil War Battle of Antietam, waged for one day, Sept. 17, 1862, around Sharpsburg, Md., and went down as the single bloodiest day of combat for the United States.

Yes, it is chilling that 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing after 12 hours of fighting that day. To put that number into perspective, an event like that would have devastated much of today’s Otsego County population (24,164, according to the 2010 census).

Yes, this battle became a grim reminder that this war was not all fun and games. In October 1862, photos from the grisly scene were on display in a New York City gallery exposing many to the horrors of the battle.

Yes, the battle also led to President Abraham Lincoln issuing a preliminary proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, that said he would order the emancipation of slaves on Jan. 1, 1863.

But really, why does this haunt me? Probably because I have visited the Antietam National Battlefield a couple of times, and I have never experienced the feelings it evoked anywhere else.

I will explain, but just to let you know for the record, I am no Civil War buff. I have only visited the battlefields of Antietam and Gettysburg and only because living in Pennsylvania put me in closer proximity to those areas where the Civil War was fought, therefore piquing my longtime interest in American history.

Gettysburg felt “commercial” when I visited there in the late 20th century, but Antietam represented a “step back in time.” It seemed like it was still the 1860s when I went there in the 1990s.

I first visited Antietam on a warm, sunny summer day. My second visit occurred on a raw, damp fall day when I met up with a couple other friends from the Midwest who were attending a conference in Washington, D.C., and expressed an interest in going to Antietam while they were in the area.

On both visits as I moved through the battlefield, learning of the carnage at the cornfield, the Sunken Road, the bridge over Antietam Creek, I felt more and more that I wasn’t just there with fellow visitors. It almost seemed like the battle was still being waged around me.

The feeling especially hit me at the bridge.

During my first visit, I was alone at the bridge. I remember looking over the side of the bridge into the creek. At that moment, a feeling came over me that is hard to explain, but it felt like soldiers were swarming around me, still trying to take that bridge. I thought I heard battle cries, the pounding of horses’ hooves and battle flags whipping in the wind. Or maybe it was the flapping of angels’ wings.

I don’t really know, but the commotion made me turn a full circle. I saw nothing. I was still all by myself. After a moment, all was quiet again, just me on the bridge and a couple of birds flitting in the tree branches overhead.

I told myself it probably was just my overactive imagination after being bombarded for several hours with the horror of that day back in 1862.

When I visited the battlefield again on that raw, fall day, I had the same feelings, and my friends had strange looks on their faces, too, while at the bridge. Maybe it wasn’t just my imagination as we all remarked that we felt something different going on there.

The radio report on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam brought those memories back. Suddenly, I was back on that bridge, again feeling like the soldiers were still there fighting on and on and on.

— Cathy Landry is copy editor of the Gaylord Herald Times. Contact her at 732-1111 or clandry@